


I’ve seen fire, and I’ve seen rain

by itswheremydemonshide10



Series: 7 Days of Robron Fics [6]
Category: Emmerdale, Roblivion - Fandom, robron
Genre: (implied) - Freeform, Gen, M/M, Past Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-11-30 00:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11451804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itswheremydemonshide10/pseuds/itswheremydemonshide10
Summary: In which Liv is a terrible cook, Robert struggles, and Aaron attempts to be a voice of reason.





	I’ve seen fire, and I’ve seen rain

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 7 Days of Robron: Day 6 – robron + another character of your choice

Aaron hears the shouting as he approaches the front door, the combined raised voices of his husband and sister inside the house. He sighs as he reaches for the door handle, it’s been a long day at the scrapyard and he really doesn’t want to spend his evening refereeing a fight between the two.

As he steps through the door he’s greeted by the smell of something burnt, and rounds the corner to see Robert and Liv, standing three feet apart in front of the blackened, smoking oven, bellowing at each other.

“…TOLD YA, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, STOP BLOODY GETTING ON MY CASE!” Liv shouts, her cheeks a blotchy red, her hair falling out of its ponytail.

“YEAH AN ACCIDENT THAT DIDN’T NEED TO HAPPEN. WHAT IF I HADN’T COME HOME WHEN I DID? YOU COULD HAVE KILLED YOURSELF YOU IDIOT!” Robert shouts over her, looking no less fuming than the girl in front of him.

“Erm… dare I ask?” Aaron intervenes, announcing his presence to the pair.

“Nah, don’t bother… you’ll only get shouted at.” Liv says scathingly, before turning on her heel and disappearing up the spiral staircase, stomping all the way and slamming her bedroom door for good measure.

“What the hell was that all about?” Aaron asks Robert, more seriously now.

“Your bloody sister decided to come home from school and cook herself something to eat. Only she left the cooker on and disappeared upstairs to phone Gabby and forgot about it! She could have burnt the whole house down.” Robert looks beyond angry, his eyes wild and panicked. His chest heaves in short, sharp bursts and his hair is standing on end where he’s obviously run his hands through it repeatedly.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean to…”

“Oh sure! Take her side, I should have known you would.” Robert snaps, eyes flashing with fury, and something Aaron can’t quite place. “Well let’s just hope she doesn’t burn us all alive next time!” He adds, voice dripping with angry sarcasm.

Robert then stomps off no more gently than Liv, grabbing his jacket from the hook, and wrenching open the front door to disappear down the driveway. At least he has the sense not to slam the door, Aaron thinks. He wonders whether he should follow, but decides that it will probably only antagonise Robert more.

Aaron throws open as many windows as he can to try and clear the last of the lingering smoke. Then he takes a couple of minutes to make two mugs of tea and to think of how to broker some kind of peace between the two most important people in his life. It’s been a while since Robert and Liv have argued like this, their disagreements usually limited to good-natured teasing lately. Normally Robert knows not rise to Liv’s snarky ways, but with a sinking feeling in his stomach, Aaron thinks he knows what this is really about for him.

He sighs as he puts the milk back in the fridge and, deciding that he should just bite the bullet, trudges up the stairs with both mugs.

Liv is sat cross-legged on her bed, scrolling through her phone with her headphones on when Aaron nudges the door open with his elbow. He places the two mugs on Liv’s bedside table, and she looks up but doesn’t remove her headphones until he gestures for her to take them off, as he perches on the end of her bed.

“I swear! It really was an accident.” Liv bursts out, sounding more emotional than angry now, but still with an edge of stubbornness that Aaron recognises as identical to his own.

“I know, I believe you! And so does Robert.” Aaron insists.

“Yeah right.” Liv snorts. “I should have known you’d side with him.”

Aaron throws up his hands in surrender, and tries not to laugh at just how similar Robert and Liv are sometimes.

“Hey. I’m not on anyone’s side. I just want peace and quiet.”

There’s a few moments silence, where Aaron reaches for the mugs of tea, passing one to Liv now she doesn’t seem as likely to throw it at him.

“Look, I know sometimes he can be…” Aaron starts.

“A dick.” Liv cuts in.

“Difficult.” Aaron corrects. “But I promise, it’s just his weird way of showing he cares… honestly, I think you scared him. I mean, I would have been terrified if I’d come home and found you in a house that’s on fire.”

“I guess…” Liv seems to be softening a little.

They both take tentative sips of their hot tea, and Aaron ponders whether to tell her. On the one hand it’s not really his story to tell, but at the same time he thinks it would really help her to understand.

“His mum died in a fire” Aaron tells her quietly.

“What, seriously?” Liv asks, eyes wide.

“Yeah, when he was fourteen. He saw it happen an’ everything.” He pauses, let’s that sink in for her before speaking again.

“He gets quite… upset around fire. I think when he saw the kitchen and couldn’t see you he probably thought something had happened to you and panicked. He just… didn’t really know how to deal with that.“

Liv seems to mull the new information over as she sips her tea.

“Is that why he kept insisting on having one of those fancy new electric fires in the living room, instead of a log fire?”

“Yeah.”

“Right.”

“Look, I’ll talk to him about flying off the handle ok? But can you please cut him some slack… just this once?” Aaron asks.

“Yeah, alright.” Liv replies, all anger seemingly gone now.

He ruffles her hair and leaves her with her music and her thoughts.

\--

Aaron is cleaning the mess around the oven when Robert returns.

Robert doesn’t speak to either of them, just shrugs his jacket and shoes off and slumps down on the sofa, flicking the TV onto the news channel. His gaze stays fixed on the screen, but his eyes look distant, like he’s not really taking any of the news bulletins in. He looks tired, and sad, and suddenly much younger than his 31 years.

Liv shuts her laptop and goes to sit on the other end of the sofa without saying a word. Aaron keeps cleaning, but his ear is straining for the slightest hint that their argument is about to resume.

They watch the TV in silence for a few minutes, before Aaron hears Liv speak quietly, barely audible over the newsreader.

“He told me. About your mum. I’m sorry, I had no idea.”

“You weren’t to know.” Robert tells her with a sigh. “I shouldn’t have lashed out, I know you didn’t mean to I just… couldn’t bear to lose anyone else I love like that.”

There’s a loaded silence and stillness as the three of them realise what Robert’s just said. Even Aaron pauses mid-scrub. He knows that Robert has grown to love Liv in his own odd way, of course he does, but his husband has never said it out loud so plainly before, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Aaron can see the pleased glow on Liv’s face from across the room, and knows it means as much to her as it does to him, even if she doesn’t acknowledge it out loud.

“What was she like?” Liv asks instead, voice unusually gentle, and Aaron feels like he might burst with pride and love for these two people, who have both turned his life upside down in the most incredible ways.

They’ll order pizza in a bit, the oven completely abandoned, and Robert will talk sporadically through the evening. He’ll tell them nostalgic stories of Saturday mornings on the farm, when he and Sarah would bake muffins in their pyjamas, and the late nights when she would read to him until he fell asleep in her arms.

It won’t erase Robert’s pain or grief. But Aaron hopes that being surrounded by a new, loving family will soothe some of the ache, at least for a while.


End file.
